a prehistoric tomb made of large upright stones, capped with a horizontal stone, and
originally buried under an earth mound.

dolmen

a circle of upright stones or posts.

henge

a large stone.

megalith

a surface that is written or drawn upon, and then cleared and reused, often leaving trace
remnants of the previous work.

palimpsest

construction using upright posts and horizontal lintels, not arches or vaults; also known
as “post-and-beam” or “post-and-lintel” construction.

trabeation

building materials used for making walls, consisting of “wattle” or thin branches
weaved between upright stakes, and reinforced by applying “daub” or a plaster-like substance over the wattle structure.

wattle and daub

Greek for “stone”

lithos

White Temple and Ziggurat, Uruk (Warka, Iraq), ca. 3500-3000 BC

Stele with law code of Hammurabi, from Susa, Iran, basalt, ca. 1780 BC

in ancient Mesopotamia, an indirect approach into a temple or cella; generally gods
entered into a temple on the long axis, while humans entered on the short axis and turned 90-degrees to approach the cult statue.

bent-axis approach

an asphalt of Asia Minor used in ancient times as a cement and mortar.

bitumen

the main room in a temple, housing the cult statue.

cella

an Assyrian guardian in the form of a human-headed winged bull.

lamassu

in ancient Mesopotamia, a pyramidal mound or tower built of mud-brick forming the
base of a temple, usually stepped or having a broad ascent winding around it.